suddenly, mitt romney was on the ropes. a gingrich adviser went to the santorum camp. would the senator join the speaker on one ticket? no. santorum was surging and wanted his own shot but they still became strange bed fellows. >> i agree with rick's point. i would urge the states then to return most of the power back to the local communities. and the third thing we bought, which rick alluded to which is really important. >> as newt said the real fundamental issue here is government coercion. >> reporter: then the tables turned. santorum's top aide went to gingrich's henchmen with a proposal. join their team to topple the tycoon. santorum and gingrich started conspiring by phone. they even huddled in person. but they couldn't resolve the biggest issue of all. who would lead the ticket? and for the two big egos vying for their piece of history, the rest is, well, history. but wait, wait. there is more. some gingrich advisers today are taking issue with the back story the way the santorum campaign is talking about it. adviser kevin kellums gave cnn this statement. the id